We supported SHL to run a compliant collective consultation process, following the need to...
This week the teams are instructed to put together, sell and host a corporate away day at Silverstone, and if the guests don’t enjoy themselves, they can ask for their money back.
The PMs
As the numbers dwindle there’s less time spent on deciding PMs. Luxury corporate hospitality is exactly what Stephanie used to do, so it’s a no brainer for team Diverse, and bolshy Harpreet quickly cements her lead of team Infinity.
Putting it all together
Stephanie designs her day – a museum tour, track experience and scalextric, while Harpreet goes for the track tour, pit stop experience and motion simulator.
Harpreet is all about laying on a premium experience and isn’t too worried about splashing the cash to get it. Stephanie wants luxury but without spending too much. Nick sums up the Diverse strategy beautifully “mid to high, but luxury” - huh?
Off the teams go to sell their tickets. Neither team get the prices they want (of course), and Infinity sell a VR experience rather than the motion simulator Harpreet actually chose.
Next, they choose their food and try to get the best prices they can. Akshay negotiates while Nick stuffs his gormless face - pausing long enough to offer to wash the dishes to secure the deal.
The task
It was a disaster for Diverse. Steph and Kathryn kicked off with a shambolic museum tour which skipped most of the exhibits and ignored the interactive elements. Their guests were unimpressed and it only got worse when they had to wait for the best part of an hour, in a soulless conference room, for their lunch. While the boys washed up, the girls put everything into the high speed track experience in a last ditch effort to save them.
Over on team Infinity, Harpreet made sure there were no delays with their food, shouting constant words of encouragement/orders at Akeem whose only job was to make enough rice to feed a week’s worth of corporate guests. Front of house expert Brittany and charming Aaron did an excellent job of keeping their guests happy. Their downfall was delivering a motion simulator to guests who were promised the best VR experience of their lives.
The Boardroom
The moment of truth, how did they do? Both teams made a profit but Team Diverse delivered such a disappointing day that their guests demanded a 20% refund. Infinity smashed it, even with the VR/simulator faux pas their guests returned great feedback, especially for upbeat hosts Brittany and Aaron.
Akshay quickly made the point that even without the refund Diverse suffered, they still would have lost out to Infinity who made nearly £2,000 profit. Stephanie isn’t willing to accept it and clearly wants the boys back – Lord Sugar is having none of it and brings all four of them back.
Big surprise, Akshay is back in the boardroom for the fifth time in 8 weeks. Surely it’s his time to go? But no, it’s Nick who Lord Sugar bins. Akshay survives yet again, promising Lord Sugar he’ll be PM next week. Lord Sugar obviously knows something we don’t, Akshay must have a seriously good business plan.
This week’s employment insight
If this week had been a real employment scenario, I think Nick could have found himself redundant. The team numbers needed to be reduced, so that’s the first element of a redundancy situation met. Next would have to be a fair selection – well the task itself acted as Lord Sugar’s process, and Nick is the one who fell short, contributing far less and performing poorly over a number of weeks. Finally, every good employer will know they need to consult, and the boardroom was Lord Sugar’s forum for this. Nick got to have his say, but it just wasn’t enough to save him.
